Maryland Nature Guide: November 2026
November turns Maryland toward winter — the Chesapeake fills with returning Tundra Swans, geese, and ducks, the last fall color drops from the Coastal Plain, and the garden and markets settle into their cold-season rhythm of roots, greens, and storage crops.
What to look for this week
- The Chesapeake waterfowl winter peaks — Tundra Swans, geese, and rafts of canvasback and redhead crowd Blackwater NWR as the Christmas Bird Counts wrap up across Maryland.
- The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks in a short, sharp burst around January 3 — watch after midnight from a dark site like Assateague Island or the Garrett County highlands.
- A planning week for Maryland gardeners — review last season and order seeds early before the popular varieties sell out, while the ground sits frozen.
Birds This Month
November is when Maryland's waterfowl winter arrives in force. The Tundra Swans return to Blackwater and the Bay in great numbers, joined by surging flocks of Canada and snow geese, canvasback, redhead, scaup, ruddy duck, bufflehead, northern pintail, American wigeon, and green-winged teal — the Chesapeake becoming the wintering ground for a huge share of the Atlantic Flyway. The first tundra swan calls echoing over the marshes are a signature sound of the Maryland fall.
On land, the winter birds settle in. Dark-eyed juncos, white-throated and fox sparrows, yellow-rumped warblers, golden- and ruby-crowned kinglets, and hermit thrushes fill the woods and brush, and the feeders rebuild their winter flocks of chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, cardinals, and house and goldfinches. Wintering Bald Eagles concentrate along the Bay and the Susquehanna below Conowingo, and the open farm country draws northern harriers, red-tailed and the first rough-legged hawks, and short-eared owls at dusk.
What's Blooming
November all but ends the Maryland bloom year, but the late structure of the landscape carries its own beauty. The frost-killed meadows stand in shades of tan and russet — the dark seed-heads of black-eyed Susan (the state flower) and coneflower, the silvered milkweed pods still trailing seed, the bleached Queen Anne's lace, and the tawny plumes of goldenrod, broomsedge, and the native grasses glowing in the low autumn light.
The salt and tidal marshes of the Chesapeake turn to wide sweeps of golden-brown cordgrass and switchgrass, and the dunes of Assateague hold the bleaching seaside goldenrod and beach heather. In sheltered gardens, the last chrysanthemums, asters, and the first witch hazel may still show color before hard frost, and the native witch hazel in the woods opens its yellow ribbon-flowers — the very last native wildflower of the year, blooming as the leaves fall around it. The seed-heads and grasses now feed the wintering sparrows and finches.
Garden This Month
November settles the Maryland garden toward winter. Bring in the last hardy crops as needed — kale, collards, spinach, leeks, carrots, parsnips, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage all hold in the ground and sweeten with the frosts, and many can be mulched and harvested through winter. Finish planting garlic and any remaining spring bulbs early in the month before the ground hardens, and water newly planted trees and shrubs until the freeze.
This is the main cleanup-and-protect month. Drain and store hoses and irrigation, clean and oil tools, empty and store containers, and mulch the perennial beds, strawberries, and tender plants after the ground chills to insulate the roots. Rake or mow leaves into the beds and compost the rest, and protect young tree trunks from deer and rodent damage. Leave the perennial seed-heads, ornamental grasses, and standing stems for the winter birds and overwintering insects, and let leaf litter lie where you can — the quiet, undisturbed garden is the richest winter habitat.
Zone 6b (western Maryland & the Frederick uplands): winter sets in. Finish harvesting hardy roots and greens, mulch heavily over carrots, leeks, and garlic, drain and store hoses and irrigation, and protect tender shrubs before the hard mountain freezes.
Zone 7a (central Piedmont & the Baltimore–Washington corridor): the garden winds down. Harvest the frost-sweetened brassicas and greens, mulch the beds and perennials, plant any remaining bulbs and garlic, and clean and store tools before the freeze.
Zone 7b (lower Eastern Shore & the Bay's warming edge): a long, mild close. Hardy greens, kale, and collards keep cropping under row cover well into the cold, fall-planted garlic settles in, and cold frames extend the harvest into winter.
What's at the Farmers Market
November markets in Maryland turn fully to the harvest table. The storage crops are in abundance — winter squash, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, beets, turnips, parsnips, and cabbage — alongside the frost-sweetened greens: kale, collards, spinach, Brussels sprouts, and leeks. Crisp apples and fresh cider from the western Maryland and Frederick orchards are at their best, with the last grapes and cranberries for the season.
The Chesapeake's oysters are now in their cool-weather prime — the heritage shellfish of the Bay, at their best in the months with an R. Choose winter squash and pumpkins with hard, unblemished rinds and intact stems and store them cool and dry; pick apples that are firm and heavy and keep them cold. Store potatoes and onions cool, dark, and dry, sweet potatoes warm and dry, and carrots and other roots cold and humid in the crisper. Local turkeys, eggs, honey, and cheeses round out the pre-holiday markets.
Night Sky This Month
November's long, cool nights bring the transition to the winter sky over Maryland. The autumn constellations — the Great Square of Pegasus, Andromeda, and Perseus — ride high after dark, the Pleiades and Hyades clusters climb in the east, and by late evening Orion and the brilliant winter stars rise to follow them. The Andromeda Galaxy stands near the zenith, and the Double Cluster in Perseus is a fine binocular sight.
The Leonid meteor shower peaks around mid-November, a modest shower of fast, bright meteors radiating from Leo as it rises after midnight — best in the predawn hours from a dark site like Assateague Island or the Garrett County mountains. The shorter days and crisp, dry air make for some of the year's clearer skies. The wide, dark horizons of the lower Eastern Shore and the western highlands give the best views away from the Baltimore–Washington light dome. The printable Maryland night-sky guide lists this year's exact Leonid peak date, planet positions, and the dark-sky sites near you.
Butterflies & Pollinators
November effectively closes Maryland's butterfly year, but the insects remain present all around in their winter forms. On a rare warm, sunny afternoon early in the month, a hardy mourning cloak, eastern comma, or question mark may still emerge to bask along a sheltered woodland edge before the hard cold sets in — these are Maryland's overwintering adults, soon tucked behind loose bark, in woodpiles, and under leaf litter where they will spend the winter.
The last migrant monarchs have passed south down the coast, now well on their way to the Mexican overwintering forests. Across the state, the other species wait out the cold in earlier stages — the great spangled fritillary as a tiny larva in the leaf litter, the zebra and eastern tiger swallowtails as chrysalises near their host pawpaw and cherry, and the skippers as eggs or larvae in the dormant grasses. Leaving leaf litter, brush piles, and standing stems undisturbed through the winter is the single best thing a Maryland gardener can do for next year's butterflies.
Trees This Month
November sees the last of Maryland's leaves come down and the bare structure of the woods return. The Coastal Plain holds the final color — the oaks turn russet and bronze and drop slowly (the white and beech often holding bleached leaves into winter), the baldcypress in the swamps drops its rusty needles, and the sweetgum and red maple finish their reds. By month's end most of the hardwoods stand bare against the gray sky.
The evergreens come back into prominence as the leaves fall. On the Eastern Shore and Coastal Plain, the loblolly pine dominates the now-open woods, with glossy American holly bright with ripening red berries, eastern red cedar in the old fields, and baldcypress knees in the swamps; in the cold western mountains, the eastern hemlock and red spruce darken the high country. The heavy acorn drop from the white oaks feeds the deer, turkey, and squirrels, and the bare branches reveal the old hanging nests of the orioles and the great stick nests of the eagles and ospreys along the rivers.
Go deeper with the Maryland guides
The complete Maryland birding, native-plant, wildflower, and night-sky guides — or the whole year in one bundle.
Same month elsewhere: November in Massachusetts · November in Michigan · November in Minnesota